Margaret B. Kwoka, First-Person FOIA, 127 Yale L.J. 2204 (2018)

ABSTRACT:

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) embodies a radical notion. By allowing any person to request any records for any reason, it was meant to open up government for all to see. Investigative journalists, watchdog groups, and concerned citizens would all jump at the chance to hold officials accountable and unearth secretive government actions. The numbers seem to support a FOIA success story: after all, the government now consistently receives over 700,000 FOIA requests a year.

As it turns out, however, it is not journalists and nonprofits who are making hundreds of thousands of requests. In my previous article, FOIA, Inc., I documented how commercial requesters have dominated the FOIA landscape at some agencies, particularly large regulatory agencies. In doing so, they have transformed FOIA into a sort of giveaway to businesses, to the potential detriment of those whose requests promote government oversight.

Read more (as well as the article) here.